Harnessing water system flexibility for grid resilience

With new critical infrastructure that require uninterrupted power supplies (such as data centers that support the AI boom) and a rising share of intermittent generation sources on the grid, there is a growing need for flexibility in grid resources which can ramp up or down quickly to follow loads and/or compensate for a sudden change in generation. Energy storage, such as batteries, is one source of such flexibility. However, even with large declines in prices in recent years, battery storage remains a relatively expensive resource to deploy at large scale. In comparison, implementing energy demand management programs, such as with large industrial or agricultural loads, may be more cost effective. One such source of large load is the water sector, such as from groundwater pumping, conveyance pumping, desalination, water treatment, and wastewater and water reuse treatment.

In the focal area of water for energy, there is an opportunity to harness the untapped resource of this often very energy-intensive managed water system to operate with greater flexibility to enhance grid resilience. In partnership with water and energy resource managers, there is a need to explore the energy potential, adoption barriers, and tradeoffs to enable flexible water system technologies and programs for electricity grid support. Enabling flexible water system solutions would involve research, technology deployment, and coordination and program co-design across and within the water, electricity, and connected sectors like agriculture. For example, there is an opportunity to co-design programs between major water users, grid operators, and researchers that keep the water users as the priority, and develop better models for translating water sectoral constraints into energy systems models. Further, there are opportunities in technology design and deployment to both retrofit existing water infrastructure to provide flexible grid resources and to design and build new water facilities with grid flexibility in mind from the beginning.

The success of flexible water system technologies can be measured in terms of financial metrics, such as less volatile and extreme electricity market prices, avoided capital costs for generation or storage investments, and lower water user costs. In addition, the success of these opportunities may be measured in lower peak energy loads, more efficient operation of water infrastructure, less steep energy ramps, and less curtailed generation because of more efficient allocation of generation to water-related loads.